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Author Notes:This is my late father's recipe for Italian Rice Pie. We would have it every Easter, since I was a child. I still love the flavor of citrus that comes through in the pie filling and crust. —Cynthia

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Serves 6-8

Pie Crust

4
tablespoons Butter

1/2
cup Sugar

1/2
teaspoon Vanilla

1
Zest of 1 Lemon

1
Zest of 1 Orange

2
cups Flour

2
Eggs

2
teaspoons Baking Poweder

Pie Filling

1
Zest of 1 Lemon

1
Zest of 1 Orange

1/2
quart Heavy Cream

1/2
teaspoon Salt

1/2
teaspoon Cinnamon

1
tablespoon Butter

1/2
pound Arborio Rice

4
Eggs

12
ounces Ricotta Cheese

1
cup Sugar

1/2
tablespoon Vanilla

For the Pie Crust.
Mix ingredients in a bowl or stand mixer. Alternatively, to have the experience of the “old country” you could mix the ingredients by hand. To mix the ingredients by hand, it is like making pasta. Make a volcano with the flour and stick the wet ingredients inside and begin to mix. Continue to roll the mixture until it turns into a dough and knead until smooth. Roll it into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Put in the fridge for 1-2 hours to firm up.
On a floured surface roll out the dough after letting it rest in the fridge. It will be very soft so be careful with it. The crust will expand when baked so roll it out to about an 1/8 of an inch thick (about the size of two quarters stacked on top of each other).

Pie Filling.
Boil the Arborio rice until just firm. Rinse with warm water and then let sit while preparing the wet ingredients.
In a saucepan, boil heavy cream, zest of orange and lemon, salt, cinnamon, salt, butter. Let come to a boil for 10 minutes, then set to simmer.

In separate bowl, mix in the following.
4 eggs
12oz ricotta cheese – room temperature
1 cup sugar
½ lbs arborio rice
½ tbsp vanilla
Beat 4 eggs one at a time into 12 oz of ricotta cheese. Add 1 cups sugar one at a time.
Combine egg mixture with rice and cream.
Pour mixture into the pie crust and bake at 300 degrees for about 1 hour.
If left over filling, put into ramekins and bake for 45 min, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean